OAG 69-58.

• Case Date: May 19, 1969
• Court: Oregon

Oregon Attorney General Opinions 1969. OAG 69-58. 704OPINION NO. 69-58[34 Or. Op. Atty. Gen. 704]May 19, 1969Honorable Vernon L. CookState SenatorSenate ChambersState CapitolNo. 6639You ask whether ORS 251.080 is constitutional in so far as it provides that a state-wide measure for a constitutional amendment or for legislation may be declared adopted although the same was rejected at the polls in an election, where a court finds there was deliberate and material violation of the election laws in connection with the rejection of such measure.705ORS 251.080 provides that after a hearing in an election contest regarding approval or rejection of a measure

" * * * the circuit court shall render a judgment affirming or setting aside * * * the approval or rejection of the measure. * * * If the judgment sets aside the rejection of a measure, it shall also declare the measure approved, unless it appears that such approval is subject to being set aside under ORS 251.015 to 251.090, in which case the judgment shall declare the measure rejected."

(The qualification contained in the last part of ORS 251.080, supra, refers, apparently, to a situation where an approval of the measure at the polls could also have been successfully705 contested in a court proceeding.) ORS 251.025, in so far as relevant here, provides that:

" * * * the approval or rejection of any measure at any primary, general or special election may be contested as provided in ORS 251.015 to 251.090 by any elector entitled to vote for such * * * measure at such election * * * for any of the following causes and no other:

"(1) Deliberate and material violation of any provision of the election laws in connection with such * * * approval or rejection."

ORS 251.015 defines "measure" as including, among other things, any proposed law or Act of the Legislative Assembly and any proposed amendment to the Oregon Constitution. State-wide measures for constitutional amendments and legislation are placed before the voters pursuant to Article IV, § 1, Oregon Constitution, which provides in subsection (4) (d) thereof that:

" * * * an initiative or referendum measure becomes effective 30 days after the day on which it is enacted or approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon. * * *" (Emphasis supplied)

Former Article IV, § 1, containing the original constitutional provision for...